Two Exercise Categories Not to Fall Into....
I have observed gym-goers often fall into two "bad" categories:
1. Inappropriately Aggressive Training Guy; or
2. Inappropriately Conservative Training Person.
We all know the "Inappropriately Aggressive Training Guy": way too much weight, horrible form, massive joint stress and apparently majored in "creatively dangerous exercises" in college. The all-too frequent consequence for this guy: injury to the shoulder, low back, biceps tendon, or knee.
I also see the "Inappropriately Conservative" Person daily. This person does lots of lateral shoulder raises, lots of bicep curls, never changes intensity, does the same workout every time and rarely performs any type of lower-body resistance training since they work the legs "doing cardio". This person's goal is often to "tone" the muscles. The problem with this approach is it does not utilize even a portion of the potential benefit of resistance training.
These approaches are both different sides of the same coin. Both are premised on the "lifting weights is good" mantra without the caveat: Lifting weights is good if done with appropriate form and at appropriate intensity levels to produce improvement. Otherwise, it can be dangerous and/or ineffective.
- A resistance-training set should be challenging but not impossible to complete. A good rule of thumb is you should be able to do maybe two more reps before fatiguing at the end of your set. So if you are doing a set where you stop at 12 reps, you should be able to maybe do 14 or so before total muscular fatigue would set in.
- As a most general rule, sets of 1-6 repetitions WITH GOOD FORM best increase strength, sets of 8-12 reps WITH GOOD FORM best increase muscle size (although note women usually have a very difficult time increasing muscle size), and sets of over 15 reps burn some calories and may increase muscle endurance but are minimally effective at improving strength or muscle.
- If you are a beginner, the above rules are not completely applicable. A beginner can show improvements with almost any program. However, at some point reps and intensities must be changed or no progress will occur.
- There are many variations to the above "rules" (particularly for athletes) but for the average person these are good guidelines.
Obviously, what is "appropriate" for one person (e.g.,college football player) is not appropriate for another (e.g., grandmother with no exercise history). Yet, this seemingly obvious distinction is ignored every day in gyms across the country-often by personal trainers unfortunately.
Readers of this blog will hopefully learn enough to stay out of these "bad" categories and better utilize the dynamic power of resistance training for optimum strength, health and performance. Stay tuned....
Happy Holidays!
Jeff
About Jeff Blair
He’s trained movie stars, All-Americans and sports teams.
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The desire to excel and the knowledge that Jeff Blair would provide a world-class training program and give them the best chance to achieve their goals.
Jeff Blair uses his high-octane strength, power and mobility secrets to create your individualized program, which allows you to excel and stay on the top of your game.
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